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Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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Falling behind - Administrative Assistant Oak Ridge National Laboratory Employee Review

4.0
May 13, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Cool people and a nice campus.

Cons

Since returning to campus, many people have left ORNL because: -Strict no remote/hybrid work schedules even if your supervisor would allow it. -Being micromanaged due to the many management positions that were created and filled over the pandemic. -Salary not keeping up with the cost of living in the Knoxville area. -Not getting the correct job band/title/promotions because ORNL wants them to have a degree, despite knowing the job inside and out. -Support staff have been leaving because they are overworked and not being recognized Times are changing; ORNL is falling behind and Leadership doesn't seem to acknowledge or care.

Explore other reviews about Oak Ridge National Laboratory

5.0
Jun 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent lab to work for! Great work/life balance and medical insurance.

Cons

Could cut the red tape a bit

3.0
Jun 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I like the people. I like the flexible work hours.

Cons

While hours are flexible, if you’re a sole developer supporting small-scale research projects (so no dev team, just you), you will have a bad time. You will end up managing all facets of development (full stack) for 3-4 applications by yourself to cover your time and it’s impossible to keep up with the workload AND learn new things AND attend conferences AND mentor juniors. You log time against the different projects you’re working on pretty much the exact same way consulting firms have billable hours. So you might have 50% of your time paid for by a particular project, but the deliverables could easily demand 100% of your time if you want to do it well. Then you have the other 2-3 projects funding the other 50% of your salary but also each needing 70-100% of your time to meet deliverables. The system is not set up well for developers’ sanity.

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